


homecoming

by eugyne (AreteNike)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: For A Zine, Gen, Post-Series, but thats what family is for, its weird coming home from a universe-wide war, s6 ruined this a little but thats fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreteNike/pseuds/eugyne
Summary: Coming home is an adjustment Matt wasn't sure he'd ever get to make; that doesn't make it easier, though.Written for RevHolt Matt zine!!





	homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> man i had so much fun working on this zine and GUESS WHAT WE HAVE EXTRA STOCK so [run and grab it if you missed it the first time, before its gone!!](https://vldmattzine.tumblr.com/post/175648753108/extra-sales-for-revholt-a-vld-matt-zine-are)

He's wanted this for a long time, Matt reminds himself, as the shuttle touches down on Earth. He's wanted this landscape, the familiar desert around the Garrison, the clear blue sky, the wind and scent of home. He's been waiting years for this moment.

He's wanted this for a long time, so why, as his boot makes its mark in the sand, does he feel like turning back?

Maybe it's the way the desert doesn't _feel_ like anything. He's seen a hundred deserts, a thousand blue skies. There's nothing distinctly _Earth_ about this place, not when the laws of physics are the same across the universe—the same sorts of rocks and shapes, the same sand, the same atmosphere. Drop him on a planet enough _like_ Earth and he won't know the difference.

Silly of him to think he would.

Then again, maybe it's something else that’s bothering him. Maybe he just doesn't want to deal with everyone who thought he was dead—not least his own mother. Maybe he doesn't want to settle back down on Earth when there's still a whole universe out there to explore—and who says he has to? Maybe he doesn't want to see how the knowledge of everything out there has changed his home.

Maybe he's afraid of how the world has moved on without him.

Pidge doesn't seem bothered by whatever strange melancholy has overcome him, though. She hops right off the shuttle without hesitation, practically bouncing beside him as the rest of the gang file off too. She grabs his arm in her excitement, shaking it, like she used to when she was little.

She's not little anymore. She's a war hero now.

"You're going so _slow,_ Matt, come on!"

"Coming!" he laughs, and moves forward when he would rather go back.

* * *

The Garrison is exactly how he remembers it and somehow that's worse than it being different, because he knows _he's_ different now. Same halls, same smells, same people. New Matt.

The look on Iverson's face when they walk in is pretty good, though.

Even with Dad preceding them there are a lot of phone calls, a lot of yelling, a lot of people coming in to find out what's going on and _oh my god, Shirogane, Holt, all of you, you're alive, you’re back!_ over and over and over. And Iverson apologizing to Shiro, which is a hell of a treat. Hunk's family is first to show up, and they get a classroom all to themselves to bawl in while they negotiate their reunion. Lance joins them but Matt finds himself wandering over to where Keith stands awkwardly in the corner of the reception area.

"Hey," says Matt.

"Hey," says Keith. "I guess you're excited to go home."

He says it about as neutrally as he can, which, considering it's Keith, isn't very neutral at all. He obviously doesn't want to be here any more than Matt does.

"Dunno," Matt confesses. "It's kind of weird, y'know? After everything."

Keith makes a noise halfway between hum and grunt in response—right, he probably has no one to call and nowhere to go here on Earth. Now Matt feels like an asshole. "D'you think anyone will notice if I just go back to the castle?"

"I don't know if you can, Allura and Coran are out to establish diplomatic relations or whatever. I mean, you can probably still get in, but to _go_ anywhere..."

Keith groans quietly.

"Yeah," Matt agrees. "But for the record, Shiro would definitely notice, anyway."

They both look over at Shiro, who apparently can feel their eyes on him, because he looks over at them, smiles, and returns to his conversation with Pidge.

"You're right," Keith says reluctantly. "He would."

"...Would it help if I pointed out that you're an honorary member of basically everyone's families, at this point?"

Keith looks out across the room at nothing in particular. "It's not the same," he says, and... Matt can't really argue with that.

And so the discussion is effectively killed, because even after everything they've been through Keith is hardly a skilled conversationalist, and Matt is wallowing in his own assholeishness. But neither of them has anywhere else to be, so they linger awkwardly in silence.

Maybe this is what Matt was afraid of, too. This transition from being all each other had to...

Having the whole world, he supposes. That potential.

Shit, this is probably really rough for Coran and Allura, too. They won't have that no matter what they do, and Keith is halfway there with them—his only family far out in the stars somewhere, still cleaning up the war’s wake.

"I think Coran and Allura would be happy to have you, when they get back," Matt says, elbowing Keith. And Keith must've been having the same train of thought, because he says, "Yeah. I think they would."

They watch Lance's family go by, then, and Shiro's is right on their tails. Matt watches with curiosity as they come in, because Shiro hardly ever mentioned them, but they're just... normal. A nice old Japanese couple who, despite Shiro's obvious reservations—keeping his galra arm half behind him and waving nervously with the other—close in on him immediately. They embrace tightly as Pidge steps away to give them space. Keith sighs.

But it's only a minute or two before Shiro waves Keith over, and the Shiroganes embrace him too—Keith's shocked face visible over Shiro's mom's shoulder—and, well. Looks like he won't be so alone here after all.

Pidge comes and joins Matt in the corner, then, the only ones left.

“Doesn’t look like they’ve done much here,” she says quietly. “You know, for defense.” And yeah, now that he thinks about it, they hadn’t exactly seen any ion cannons or particle barriers when they came in for landing. Not so much as a warning shot across the bow.

“Thank god the galra never bothered with this place,” Matt says, equally quiet. Because they both know they’d come close—they could have taken over with barely a whimper of resistance. Perks of being thousands of years’ worth of technology behind the rest of civilized space, apparently.

And another thought, equally distressing—the Garrison hadn’t taken Dad seriously. They _had_ strapped Shiro to a table, after all.

The Shiroganes step out, Keith in their wake, leaving the Holts to wait in silence. Pidge leans into Matt's side but they don't sit. It's too tense. Just... standing here, in front of someone's desk, under the weight of what-ifs; no enemies in sight and Matt still feels like he's in the middle of a battlefield.

Hell, sometimes he's _more_ relaxed on a battlefield.

"Where?" Mom's unmistakable voice drifts down the hall. Pidge takes Matt's hand, and he squeezes hers in turn.

And then Mom walks in, and Dad right after. Some knot loosens in Matt’s gut that he hadn’t known was there amongst the rest—the fear that Dad hadn’t made it back, that the Garrison had done something, the same feeling that made it hard to let Pidge out of his sight even when she was protected by a thousand tons of semi-sentient alien robot lion.

But no, Dad’s been here, just waiting for them to come home.

“Mom!” Pidge shrieks, and launches herself at her. Mom catches her with a shaky laugh and Matt snaps out of it to _hug his mother too,_ god, when was the last time he did? Before the Kerberos mission? Maybe longer, he's not sure he did even then. Like he wanted to seem strong, or something. Like he wasn't afraid.

And then he grew up and learned he had every right to be afraid, so fuck that, he is going to hug his mother and mean it.

“You’re alive,” Mom whispers into his hair as Dad joins the hug.

“Of course we are,” Matt says, and he's shocked to hear how watery his voice is.

“I knew you’d do it,” Dad adds. “Some ten thousand-year-old intergalactic empire has nothing on my kids.”

"True," Pidge sniffles, and Mom makes a noise that's exasperated but happy all the same. And Matt finds that here, surrounded by family, he's not afraid anymore. Whatever messes may come, whatever problems they have to fix caused by their absence, whatever guilt and blame and praise may fall on them, they'll be here, and that, at least, he can count on to stay the same.

No matter how much he changes, no matter how far afield he goes, he'll always have home.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at [maternalcube](http://maternalcube.tumblr.com/), and once again a few zines are still available [here!!!](https://vldmattzine.tumblr.com/post/175648753108/extra-sales-for-revholt-a-vld-matt-zine-are)


End file.
